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Evolution
"I reject evolutionary theory, but not because I think it contradicts the Bible; I reject it because I can do the math that seems to make evolution impossible." - Dr. Bob The idea of evolution can be rejected for mathematical reasons, not religious ones. Harvard's Evolutionary Biologist Stephen Jay Gould estimated that there were 60 trillion beneficial changes needed to evolve homo-sapiens. We know that the earth, 4.5 billion '''years old, could only have been cool enough to support life for about 4 billion''' years, requiring more than 40 beneficial evolutionary changes each day to produce homo-sapiens. That means we had to have as many as 15,000 changes between each generation of some of our ancestors that would have been able to reproduce only after 8 to 10 years. Those 40 changes must accrue in a creatures sex cells, since that's the only way they can be passed on. A simple rodent can pass changes on in about 90 days (which means each generation has to pass on about 3,700 beneficial changes.) An old-world monkey can pass on changes in about three years time (which means each generation has to pass on about 45,000 beneficial changes.) A modern primate reaches sexual maturity and can pass on changes in about eight years (which would require about 120,000 beneficial changes in each generation.) Not only that, you have to consider the fact that it must be accomplished by random mutation and it is counteracted by biodiversity and the exponentially increasing odds against new genes reaching the 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation. Darwin described evolution as slow, steady, random change. Darwin's description and the math do not agree. Observations of change within the animal kingdom also do not reflect the rapid, relentless change that the math requires. Knowing these things, is evolution a good explanation for the differentiation of species? Decidedly not. 'Evolution and Christianity' It's possible to take an interpretation of scripture that allows for evolution, but it's noteworthy that man's creation is different from that of the animals and plants. According to scripture, God made man differently, out of the dust of the earth. This seems to me to be contradictory to the idea of evolution. 'Teaching Evolution' Evolution needs to be taught fairly to students in schools, rather than telling them they have to believe either in evolution or in Creationism; they should be taught that they need not choose, that the two can be reconciled together. Schools need to required the complete teaching of evolution, including the problems with the theory, the holes, and the mathematical difficulties with the theory. We have''' far too many students leaving high schools and colleges with the idea that evolution is a fact, and completely unaware that the theory is in constant flux. The problem isn't those who would want Intelligent Design shared as an option. The problem is with the close-minded, unyielding, and completely unaware belief by many that evolution is concrete. It's not. '''Looking at Evolution There are simply too many hurdles to overcome. Math nails the coffin shut for Darwinian evolution; it simply is not possible, as it's taught. 'Bacterial Resistance' Bacterial resistance is quite easily explained. When we do it in terms of bacteria, however, many people don't understand it. Let's talk dogs instead, which everyone is familiar with: In my neighborhood, there are five roaming dobermans that knock over garbage cans trying to get things out of the bottom of them, and five little schnauzers that strew the mess around the yard. Sick of this mess, I poison my garbage. The five dobermans, tall enough to swallow the poison in the cans, are killed. The schnauzers, too short to reach the poison and too weak to knock over the cans, survive. My neighborhood now has five healthy schnauzers and no dobermans. When the schnauzers have puppies, their owners give the families who had a dead dog a new schnauzer puppy of their own, and my neighborhood now has 10 schnauzers. There is zero change to the genetics of the schnauzers. The whole of the population has changed, but there is nothing new here. That's how resistant bacteria populations are formed. It's not evolution. 'Vestigial Organs' Vestigial organs simply don't exist. Vestigial ''simply means "we don't know what it does, yet." It used to be that the human body was said to have nearly 200 vestigial organs, but one by one, as we've learned more about human biology, a viable, important purpose for each has been found, making them not vestigial at all. Most recent (and most widely published) is the discovery that that old vestigial banner-carrier, the appendix, was found to be a storehouse for beneficial bacteria that aid digestion, so that they can be easily replaced when something kills off large numbers of them in the colon. "Vestigial" is simply a label, not evidence of evolution. 'Homologous Structures' Homologous structures are not evidence of evolution, either. The question: why do animals have similar structures with similar functions? Because animals have similar structures with similar functions. That is, we would expect these types of structures regardless of whether we were designed or evolved! We cannot then attempt to explain the way things are by citing the way things are. 'Artificial Selection' Artificial selection is not evolution at all; it's intelligent design. A mind is interposed into the design and crossing of creatures, and the resulting offspring are due to the intentional manipulation of an intelligent designer. Artificial selection is not in any way a support of the idea of evolution. Mathematics and probability are easily the most powerful argument against natural selection. Harvard's Stephen Jay Gould, arguably one of the most influential of biologists where evolution is concerned, estimated that to assemble our roughly 3 million genes had to undergo about '''60 trillion' beneficial changes in order to evolve to homo sapiens from the first living cell. Geologists tell us that there were only about 4 billion years in which that could have occurred. If we do the math, evolution requires about 41 beneficial changes each day in order to evolve to humans, or more than 3,000 in each generation of small rodents, 45,000 in each generation of old-world monkey, and about 90,000-115,000 in each and every generation of complex primate! Do we see anything remotely close to that rate of change today? Of course we do not. When you consider that even simple Mendelian genetics results in a mathematically exponentially lower chance of passing a gene on to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations (and further), it's clear that biodiversity actually works against evolution. 'Questions to Ask' "My advice is to just ask these questions. Don't argue. Don't be disrespectful to your teacher, who is there to teach and is required by law to teach. Explore. Learn. Don't be afraid of it." - Dr. Bob #How many changes are required to evolve from a single cell to human? #How long has the earth been able to support life, and how long has that process had to happen? #How many changes, on average, are needed each day to accomplish evolution from a single cell to a human? #How did Darwin describe the change in evolution? #Are Darwin's description and the math compatible? #Knowing these things, is evolution a good explanation for the differentiation of species? The Answers: #According to Harvard's evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, about 60 trillion. #According to geologists, about 4 billion years. #By simple math, 60 trillion divided by 4 billion divided by 365 (days per year) equals about 41 beneficial changes, each and every day. #Darwin described evolution as slow, steady, random change. #Darwin's description and the math do not agree. Observations of change within the animal kingdom also do not reflect the rapid, relentless change that the math requires. #Decidedly not. 'Related Topics' *Atheism *Beginning of the Universe *One Ancestry *Science Category:Dr. Bobisms